Gunning for the Presidential Traverse trail runner’s record on ‘World of Adventure’

“Fastest Known Time” — FKT, for short — is to runners what Strava’s King of the Mountain/Queen of the Mountain/Course Record achievements are for cyclists: confirmation that you are sitting (probably tiredly) atop the heap when it comes to completing a specific route quicker than anyone else.

Ben Nephew — who, besides being a complete trail-running badass, is a biomedical researcher at Tufts University — is as hooked on the “How fast can I scramble?” mindset as any competitive endurance athlete.

“World of Adventure” followed him on his mission to break the FKT on New Hampshire’s Presidential Traverse.

Plot twist: Before setting out, Nephew already was in possession of the FKT for the route. Nineteen miles over seven of the presidential peaks, with 8,000 to 9,000 feet of vertical gain thrown in? Let’s do this.